Gourmet Roach Coach

My lunch packing woes are well documented. I feel I can carry the world on my shoulders. Packing lunch is different. If you are lunch-challenged like me, you've got to check out Gourmet Roach Coach.

Veggie Crepe

The trick to introducing new veggies to kids is to do them with food and flavors they recognize and love. If they can't see it, it is even better. Once they are used to the taste, you can tell them what it is, and they will be open to trying it in a different form. If they don't like it, they still won't write off the veggie altogether.


So, I always look for recipes where I can sneak a new vegetable in. This is one that I got from my mother in law.


1/2 cup rice
1 small squash (you can substitute with any watery veggie, like mushrooms, or okra)
salt


Soak the rice for a couple hours. Grind rice and veggies with some water. The dough should pour but not run. Add salt.


Make crepes. Note that since the dough is thicker, you need to spread it with the back of your ladel, like you would for dosa.

Thankfully, the brats are now (mostly) past where I have to hide veggies in their food. However, Brat#1 will still pick out the bell peppers from her food. Gotta try this with bell peppers.

Ready Made Foods Cooked from Scratch

There are those days, when you are running high temperature, or your foot is stuck under a heavy rock, or your fingers have been chopped off. On such days, I reach out for easy dinners.This only happens every Monday and Friday, and on most Wednesdays, Thursdays, and Tuesday, and on many Saturdays and Sundays.

Today's cooking involves lot less labor than when I was growing up. I use pre-washed salad greens, frozen peas, packaged soup, sliced bread, pita, roti, tortilla. I also buy tahini, ketchup, lemonade, potato chips, and scores of other things that my mom would have made from scratch.

Yet, it feels like it is harder to eat good food. We buy the best organic veggies and fruits money can buy, but between the store shelf and the crisper, they lose most of their nutrients before we eat them. The store bought ketchup has stuff that I would only have seen on a petri dish, and the potato chips have more grease and salt than potato.

Would I then prefer to go back to my mom's era?

Certainly not! I love that I can cook from "scratch" in no time. I love that I can cook any food any time of the year.

Will I continue to wistfully remember the golden days of the past?

Certainly! I want those fresh peas off the garden plant, but want mom to shell them!

Hot Chocolate Recipes

We call it Hot Chocolate, but really it is Hot Cocoa. Hot chocolate is made from chocolate shavings and is a bit too rich for me.


If you have never tried it, do make Hot Cocoa from cocoa powder (found in the baking section). It tastes great, and beats that watery, sugary mix hands down. It is easier than you think. Just mix steaming water, cocoa, sugar and a dash of salt. Beat till smooth and filter to remove lumps. Add hot milk. 


Here are the twists to it that make it yummier. There are no rules here. You can experiment till you find your signature Hot Cocoa:

• A dollop of whipped cream
• Candy cane left inside to melt
• A drop of real vanilla essence
• Coffee decoction
• Orange juice and Grand Marnier and orange rind
• Peppermint leaves or mint tea bag
• Orange or citrus tea bag
• A dash of chilli powder

Weekly Shopping List

Every weekend,  patidev and I, put together a menu for the work week, which determines our shopping list for the week.

The predetermined menus help us shop faster, cook fresh (and hopefully tasty) food quickly, and reduce our stress. However, over the weeks, I find us buying the same veggies over and over - carrots, spinach, onion, tomatoes, cauliflower, beans, brocolli, zuchini, cucumbers, cabbage, cilantro, potatoes, ginger, and garlic.  There are millions of other veggies and fruits that we rarely buy. The reasons vary:

• The brats don't like them so much, or
• They are not always in the store, and we cannot plan a menu based on their availability, or
• We need to go to a speciality store to buy, or
• It takes longer to chop and/or cook, or
• We are not sure how to cook it, and it will be risky to try something new on a work day, or
• It is not versatile, and we will have to eat the same dish for a couple of days to use what we bought, or
• We can always substitute one of our regular veggies in that recipe, if we decide to try it, or
• The organic versions are way too expensive

Do you plan your week's menu like us, or do you just go to the store and buy the freshest veggies and fruits, and then figure out your dinner based on what you have? Do you buy the same foods, or buy a variety of different foods? What are your "regulars"?

Recipe Challenge

Patidev is out of town, and I am invited to a Diwali potluck tomorrow. The host was to email me a dish to make, and forgot, and I forgot too. That is, until this evening. I called her hoping that I could get away with something easy. Pulav maybe?

It turned out that the person who was to make aloo gobhi backed out, and her need of the day was a vegetable. I did not want to take the brats and go shopping for veggies on a Friday evening. At the same time, I did not have large quantities of any veggie. Here is what I what I had to work with:

4 ripe tomatoes

1 head of brocolli

1/2 head of cabbage

Fresh french beans

1/2 onion

1/2 pack left over garden tomato soup

Sweet peppers

The last of some pine nuts

milk

yoghurt

chillies, cilantro, ginger

A slab of marinated tofu

A slab of paneer

1/2 pack of frozen peas (in freezer)

Couple of eggs

Bananas, persimmons, grapes

1 Acorn squash

With these constraints, I set out to cook, and made up this recipe:

1/2 Onion

4 large sweet peppers

Chop and sautee on low heat till it browns a bit and is caramelized. In the meanwhile, chop the following (do not forget to stir the onion-peppers a few times):

2 carrots in thin semi/quarter circles

1 head of brocolli - break into 1/2" florets (stem goes back into the fridge for some future use)

A large bunch of french beans cut small on the diagonal

1 slab of paneer into thin squares about 3/4"x3/4"

Grind the caramelized onion-peppers with the following:

1/3 pack soup

1 tsp roasted jeera powder

1 tsp roasted dhania powder

pine nuts (I used up what I had, which might be between 1/8 and 1/4 cup)

I added some milk - maybe a 1/4 cup - as I was grinding

Now, in the pot used to caramelize the onion-peppers, add some ghee and fry (low heat) 10 cloves and a stick of cinnamon till it smells good. Turn up the heat and add the chopped veggies. Add the remaining soup, salt and paprika. Add the ground gravy. Add paneer. Cook till the veggies are just cooked (not soft, and not crisp). Add cardamom powder and kasturi methi.

I am sure this recipe is a mix of various recipes floating in my brain with some clever beatmatching and phrasing. I am a DJ of food!

Are you a DJ too?

Eating out, lunch boxes, and recipes ...

Sometimes, I envy the people who pack their own lunch . They are eating healthy, know the ingredients, and are saving money. It seems easy enough. Cook larger portions, and pack leftovers. However, I am convinced, after years of trying, that the people who pack lunches are super-heroes. The must have 10 hands, two brains, and the ability to hold time still.

In spite of many resolutions to pack lunch, Patidev and I invariably end up eating at the cafe at work.

I think some of it has to do with the lack of a convenient, sexy, lunch box. The kids have this beautiful lunch box called the Laptop Lunch Bento Box (http://www.laptoplunches.com/). We are able to pack a lunch for them that is easy, attractive, balanced, and good for the environment. I think, Patidev and I need an adult version of this lunch box, so we don't end up going to the same salad and soup counter day after day. However, that is only part of it. Even for the kids, I am not able to pack lunch any earlier than the morning, without the food looking stale and unappetizing. It is a chore to wake up in the morning and get breakfast on the table and lunch packed for the kids. Adding our own lunches to the mix will make me a mad woman.

That said, there is a silver lining to not having 10 hands and 2 brains. I have found a few new dishes that I am going to try to replicate: Carrot orange cilantro soup (http://www.recipezaar.com/Creamy-Carrot-Orange-Soup-12357) , roasted fig fennel walnut salad (no recipe yet), cantaloupe gazpacho (http://hubpages.com/hub/How-About-A-Unusual-Cantaloupe-Soup-Recipe). I would not have considered these dishes if I had not chanced upon them at our cafe.

My Food Fashion Week

The brats and Patidev have gone to India for summer, and I am here to sell the house, pack, and move to our new house. For the first time in many years, I am rediscovering the perks of cooking for myself. The most joyous part of cooking for oneself is being able to experiment without worrying if it may turn out too over the top. In just a week I have come up with green chutney marinated tofu burger, cucumber guacamole, and mango and dried ginger salsa. Not bad, I tell myself. Then I find myself searching the web to see if anyone else has put the same combinations together, and in the process I have found a whole community of food bloggers. These people take their food very seriously. Many work full time and have kids. Yet, they not only cook complex, exotic dishes, they take the time to take pictures of the food at various stages of preparation! The pictures aren't just pictures, they are closeups that show the mouthwatering colors and textures. Every time my eyes feast on their food, my stomach sings a little hunger song, and I am inspired to go create something that comes close to tasting as good as their food looks.

I will never understand Carrie Bradshaw's fascination with fashion. However, I have felt the same emotions that fashion labels evoke in Carrie Bradshaw and her friends when I get to sample food that tastes, smells and looks heavenly. It is true nirvana. It is the purpose of life.